H. W. Heinrich, Assistant Superintendent Engineering and Inspection Division of The Travelers Insurance Company, is known as the “Father of Industrial Safety.” But today, there is a movement in the safety profession to denounce his work. To me, this is just disrespectful; hell, most of us owe our professional safety careers to Heinrich. The work he did was over 90 years ago! Was it perfect, far from it, but fundamentally speaking, much of what he taught us in the 1930-50s still holds true today. Here are his 10 Axioms of Industrial Safety from 1931. Ask yourself… if we could support 7 of these 10 axioms, how far would industrial safety have come from 1931!
